LOTTO FRAUD
As the National Lottery says, "You have to be in it to win it" so if you haven't entered a lotto draw then you can't have won. If you want to take part in a lottery draw or Play Lotto Onlinefor a chance to win millions then you should always use a reputable organisation. The National Lottery are just such an organisation.
What is Lotto Fraud?
Lotto frauds are becoming more and more prevalent in the UK, luring potential victims with promises of huge winnings arriving in the form of unsolicited e-mail or letters. Usually the communication will claim to come from an overseas lottery and claim that the recipient has been allocated winning numbers.
The recipient will contact the organisers, either by telephone, by post or e-mail, and will then be invited to send money in the form of fees to for the administration for the release of the winnings. As the winnings available are often substantial, the advance fees to release them can also be very high. These winnings do not exist, they never do. This is simply a lotto scam and an attempt to obtain money from unsuspecting victims. Cruelly, the fraudsters build up a rapport with the victims and gain they’re trust through telephone contact, so as to continue the flow of money.
Who Are The Victims?
By using of e-mail anyone can be a victim. Spam e-mails are sent en-bloc targeting many individuals, any of whom could be a potential victim.
By using letters the criminals can be a little more specific and personal. Genuine looking letters, complete with certificates for winnings will be sent to the potential victim. In many cases the elderly are most at risk. Fraudsters pay good money for mailing lists, and they do tend to target those lists that deal with the elderly.
The victim may respond to this correspondence, and after sending a fee to the fraudsters may have contact with them by telephone. The aim of the fraudsters is to gain the confidence of the victim. This is where the elderly are most at risk.
Communications to the fraudsters are often sent to drop or P.O. Box addresses. These are then collected by couriers or third parties and then sent on to the fraudsters who in most cases are based overseas. Payments to the fraudsters are made by cheque, credit or debit card transactions or popularly, via money transfer services.
Who Are Behind These Lottery Scams?
Usually it is highly organised gangs who are based overseas that are perpetrators of these lottery scams. It is also known that that there are a large number of Canadian lottery scam syndicates involved, who specifically target UK and USA.
Example Of Lotto Fraud
In London an elderly couple, who were both in their nineties, went to their bank wishing to withdraw more than £20,000. When the bank asked them why, they told the bank that they had won money in an overseas lottery, and were paying some fees to release their winnings. The bank advised them that this was an attempt at fraud and tried to deter them from drawing out the money, however, the couple demanded that the bank allowed them to draw out their money, otherwise they would close their account and take their business elsewhere.
The bank contacted the fraud squad immediately, and a manager from the bank with a detective from the fraud squad visited the couple at their home to convince them that this was a scam. The couple were adamant that they had won a genuine lottery, and had they not eventually been deterred from paying these ‘fees’, the loss of their life savings would have been a severe blow to them.
How Can We Protect Ourselves From Lotto Fraud?
If you receive any of these communications – either by letter or by e-mail - do not answer it. If you have not personally entered a lottery, there is no way that you could have won it. Lotteries do not simply allocate numbers to people, in fact, if you were to win a genuine lottery, you would have to contact them directly to verify your claim.
Who Help Is There For Victims Of Lotto Fraud?
You can report these letters and e-mails to the Enquiries Unit at the Office of Fair Trading. Enforcement teams within the Office of Fair Trading work with their International counterparts to collect evidence, and those Authorities can then use this evidence to prosecute the fraudsters.
Contact the Office of Fair Trading on: 08457 224499.